The Dreamcast's outlook seemed pretty good in 1999, but things had been changing at SEGA. Nakayama had stepped back to concentrate on arcade games, while vice president Shoichiro Irimajiri took control. Soon after, Nakayama left SEGA to pursue other business ventures. During the upheaval, Isao Okawa, Chairman of SEGA's parent company CSK, assumed a more active role in the company's business, eventually claiming the title of CEO for himself.

"I had a relationship with Nakayama and [Shoichiro] Irimajiri that was about constantly understanding vision," laments Stolar. "I just don't feel like I had that with Mr. Okawa." It may well be that Okawa's vision and Nakayama's were diametrically opposed. Nakayama wanted SEGA to be a great hardware company, and Mr. Okawa simply did not. Tom Kalinske affirms that this was the case even early in his tenure: "Okawa was telling [Nakayama] to get out of hardware; just become a software company; it's not worth it to keep fighting the hardware battle. He started saying that right from the beginning."

This conflict may have doomed the Dreamcast right from the start. Without Nakayama at the helm, SEGA's top brass didn't believe in the platform as a long-term goal. Stolar, who had never had the relationship with Okawa that he did with Nakayama and Irimajiri, was ousted shortly after the Dreamcast launch and replaced with their head of marketing, Peter Moore.

More competition was brewing on the horizon as well. Sony and Nintendo were anticipated by all, but Microsoft, the new generation's dark horse, surprised a few. It was no shock, however, to Stolar. Early in the Dreamcast's life, they came to SEGA "offering" to put Windows CE on the Dreamcast, a move that Stolar saw as a transparent Trojan horse to get into the hardware business. He explains his frustrations:

"[Microsoft] brought a whole team of people in. They got to learn the business and then walk away. I said to sell them the company, and they should have, because then they could have gotten out of the hardware business clean. I knew [Microsoft President of Entertainment & Devices] Robbie Bach really well, and I said, 'Hey, let's just get this done.' [sighs] Those things happen in the world of business."-- Bernie Stolar

His story is yet another missed opportunity that ignites the imagination. If Microsoft had picked up the Dreamcast, would we have seen a more effective marketing strategy? A more solid online plan? And would SEGA have been able to dodge the Sammy takeover? These are just a few more questions that will never be answered.

SEGA pressed bravely onward all the same. In 2000, they decided to play to the strength of their creative talent by restructuring their teams into semi-autonomous studios with greater individual freedom. This helped to nurture a culture in which fans would bond with the games of specific creators, and ushered in one of the most creative periods in the company's history.

The Dreamcast's life was fleeting, but it was saturated with memorable titles, most of which were completely new properties. Rather than rehashing past glories – most of which had been long forgotten by the public – they released ambitious, creative, colorful games that helped earn them a new generation of fans. Games like Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio, and Shenmue are remembered today as defining games of their time. The novel virtual life sim Seaman served as one of the system's few major hits in Japan. The new series launched on the Dreamcast are too numerous to name.